The "Smoking ban"- will you be giving up?

[Rave]

I could post this in Question Time, but I don't want it to turn into a debate about the rights and wrongs of smoking, and whether smokers cost the NHS etc. etc. ad nauseam. I want to chat about smoking, why we do it and how much we enjoy it etc..

I don't believe I've posted a poll before; if I do it without mucking up I'll post again after I've voted with my opinion.

[Knoxville]

I'll be carrying on regardless until I stop enjoying, I smoke outside at home, used to smoke outside at work, sure it'd be nice to smoke in a pub but I've been going to a no smoking pub near me quite frequently recently and while its extremely infuriating I can live with it.

[Rave]

O.K., so the poll worked. Now for my story.

I smoked my first few fags when I was about 16. When I went out clubbing from age 16-19 I used to enjoy bumming a fag or two because I enjoyed the headrush toward the end of an evening. From the age of 19-21 I smoked most nights I went out- but that was only every few weeks because I didn't used to go out much. Until that point I'd never smoked when I was sober.

When I was 22 I moved back to London and met up with an old school friend who was a heavy smoker, and I started to smoke more and more since we were going out to the pub 3-4 nights a week. When my job started to get stressful I started to smoke even when I wasn't drunk, and got to the stage where I was on about 10 a day. I eventually met my wife and married her. Six months later I properly gave up.

I didn't smoke for over a year. Eventually the job stress (and general stress) kicked off again and I started again, although not to the extent that I smoked before- nowadays I only smoke after a good few beers. I drink a lot though, so that can be several nightrs a week. The reason I find it so hard to give up again is the friend who normalised my smoking originally is still my best friend and we still go to the pub a lot, and it's very very hard to give up when all the mental triggers are there. I still don't smoke when I'm sober, but the truth is that I now think that a pint or five and a few fags is one of life's great pleasures.

I don't think that the 20 or so I smoke a week is going to put me in an early grave, and if it does- well I really enjoy them all. However, once my friend and I have to get up and walk to the beer garden to have a smoke in the pub, I think that smoking will rapidly become an annoyance. My friend intends to give up then, and he's smoked pretty heavily from the age of 16 (he's now 27, I'm 26). The question really is whether I should make the (considerable) effort to give up before then, or carry on my social smoking for another year and a half.

Incidentally, morally I'm dead against the smoking ban because I'm dead against the nanny state- but for once New Labour's interventionism might be doing me a favour.

[Rave]

Cheers for posting Knoxxeh- now vote eh? Before you do though, think about you life before you smoked- having met you I know you really enjoy it, but could you live without?

[RoGuE|SaBeR]

I've never smoked.

I've been around smokers pretty much all of my life. Both my parents smoke and a lot of my extended family smoke so it's kind of been something I'm used to. Generally my parents wouldn't smoke in the same room as myself or my brother but obviously I still have been around them when they smoke.

Smoking really started to make an impact on me when I started Uni this year. You are out a lot more often when at Uni so naturally you are in more contact with smokers. The smoke tends to irritate me when I'm wearing contact lenses as I generally do when I'm out plus the obvious smokey clothing becomes an issue. So for me, the ban will be great.

I don't have anything against smokers per say, each person has to make their own choices in life afterall but unfortunately it is a habit that affects others if a smoker is in the vacinity rendering me helpless to avoid the smoke. Just knock it on the head, you'll have several more years of life to enjoy anyway

[Rave]

<pedant mode>It's "per se", not "per say".</pedant> Pronounced the same admittedly.

Anyway, fair play to you for never having smoked then. I sincerely suggest that you never do. I have no sympathy about your smoky clothes- you chose to go out to smoky venues.

Thing is, I now could have a moral quandary (setting myself up for retaliatory spelling slapdowns there). It's by no means certain that I'll have kids, but if I do I'll have to talk about smoking to them at some point, and since I won't lie to them, I can't really tell them that smoking sucks. The truth is, it's overall bad, but I wouldn't have carried on for as long as I have if there wasn't some real enjoyment to be had.

I get the impression that smoking crack or shooting up heroin is pretty good the first few times you do it, but I can't say that I've ever been tempted. I'm still going to have to hope that my kids take my word for it that the downsides of smoking outweigh the benefits.I was endlessly indoctrinated as a kid that that smoking was bad, but I still ended up doing it.

[Theo]

Only one person in my family smoked, and they passed away before I started. When I was 13, I gave into peer pressure and had my first drag on a cigarette. I wasn't keen on them then, just the idea of inhaling fumes, etc. I started doing the social smoking thing in sixth form college, as I found that a particular brand of cigarette went seeerriously well with a particular brand of bitter. From that I ended up trying different brands, figuring out which ones I preferred. Then, I started smoking 10 a week - for a treat.

I still consider my tobacco habit (I say habit, but I mean hobby) to be a treat formyself. While I smoke a little more often than I used to, I still really enjoy it as much, if not more than I used to.

-edit

Just for the record, I smoke outside during the day, and in my office during the night - never in any other rooms. The missus is your typical anti-smoker, and if I didn't spray Oust/Neutradol before she wakes up - I'd be in a lot of trouble! Well.. I would be, but then I'd start coming down hard on her for drinking tea - a substance that gives you worse breath than cigarettes!

[Spud1]

Well i've never regularly smoked cigs - in fact have not touched one for over a year now, so I don't think the ban will affect me

When I was 18 I had my first one - just like you Rave it way only ever when we went out clubbing, or for a late one at the pub. Even then it was another friend who had the pack, and I would have 1 or 2 over the night. I enjoyed the inital headrush, and never had a craving for more of them..wasn't a problem for me. I never moved on to more cigs than that, and now I have occasional cigars on special occasions (birthdays, parties etc). That said i'm only 20 now, so plenty of time for me to make a mistake again..just have to hope that I don't

Personally, while I would once have been for the ban, I am now totally against it. If they want to ban smoking in public places they should ban all over drug taking that has the potential to harm others..alcohol anyone? Yet another hypocritical law eh

[Howard]

Never had a single drag of a single cigarette... Not intending to... Proudly voted for the bottom option

[menthel]

Gave up about 5 years ago now, thankfully. I now see it for what it was, an expensive way of shortening your life.

[Mrs Dak]

I stopped smoking 5/6 months ago. I still have to say stopped, rather than gave up, as it re-affirms that I chose to stop, rather than that I am denying myself a pleasure. I did enjoy smoking, but the health and financial cost finally outweighed the pleasure factor. I had smoked since I was about 13, and previously only managed to stop during pregnancy.

The ban helped me to stop, I would rather chose not to smoke from now, than be told I cannot in public in a year or so. I mostly smoked outside, at work and at home as the kids hate smoking. Now I just need Dak to stop as well, his first thing in the morning hacking cough is getting on my nerves

[schmunk]

I tried smoking a few times at university and never liked it.

[wedge22]

I have never smoked and I am glad it is something that I have never tried.

[GFiSH]

I've smoked the odd time when out drinking with mates, seems like a good idea at the time, then you wake up the next morning and all you can smell is smoke.

[steve threlfall]

I voted that i have never smoked though thats not strictly true. On occasion, on a big night out, when getting completelty trashed, i have succumbed to the delightful nicotine rush of a couple of dirty cancer sticks

I enjoyed it aswel- not a fact that im particularly proud of but i have never started smoking (buying cigs and smoking them regularly). I would always regret my weakened resolve the next day when i would feel guilty, be very short of breath (breath which would reek of stale smoke) and generally stink of smoke- something i couldnt stand. I managed to kick that in the teeth by drinking much less and the fact that my smoking mates, who used to give me fags, gave up last year helps also.

I am glad that smoking is going to be banned in pubs next year. In a way i feel for those who smoke because i understand how good smoking is with a few pints but smoking IS imo, anti social. Why should a non smoker have to avoid, say a gig just beacuse they dont want to get smoked over? If i go into a pub it doesnt affect a smoker but if a smoker comes into the pub and lights up near me then i am affected. Secondary smoke, having to sit in an unpleasant smoky environment, clothes smelling of smoke. Think of the bar staff... they cant even get away from it.

Smoking/Non Smoking areas dont work because theres always one (usually a chav) person who will flagrantly flout the rules and smoke anywhere they please regardless. This happens regularly at my local shopping centre where the no smoking rule is ignored for the most part by a minority of smokers with no consideration for those around them.

Pubs with heavy smoking are a no go for me. Thankfully there is the saving grace of my local wetherspoons which, being a brand new pub, heavily geared towards food, has a total smoking ban.

[smtkr]

I don't know about the statutes being considered in the U.K., but I really appreciated the the anti-smoking movement that has been sweeping the United States over the past 5 years. I'm allergic to cigarette smoke and I had to avoid bars until this type of legislation came to pass.